8th April 2025 – The second bi-monthly webinar hosted by the Global Health Solidarity Project convened scholars and activists from diverse backgrounds to explore the complexities of solidarity in global health.
Titled Solidarity and Adjacent Concepts, Lessons and Practices from the Pacific Region, the session spotlighted Indigenous frameworks of care, ethical dimensions of trust in health research, and the role of allyship in advancing the rights of marginalised groups, including sex workers.
Speakers examined how solidarity operates both as a guiding principle and a practical approach. Emphasis was placed on centering the voices of those most affected, acknowledging differences while building on shared purpose, and actively challenging the instinct to "other" in global health research and policy.
Dr Bridget Pratt, Associate Professor of Healthcare Ethics at the Australian Catholic University and Co-Principal Investigator of the Global Health Solidarity Project, opened the session by sharing reflections from the project’s Pacific regional workshop held in November 2024. She noted that “solidarity” is not a term commonly used in Indigenous communities in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. As a result, the workshop embraced adjacent and culturally relevant concepts, encouraging participants to contribute their own knowledge and perspectives to the conversation.
Dr Krushil Watene, Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, provided rich insights into Māori philosophies of kinship and relationality. She emphasised that for many Indigenous communities, “the basic starting point is relationships” that span people, ancestors, non-human life, land, ecosystems, and future generations.
According to Dr Watene, solidarity from an Indigenous perspective is deeply rooted in responsibility, mutual care, and stewardship. “Kinship relationships are relationships grounded in responsibility, mutual caretaking and guardianship,” she said. This worldview facilitates global networks of solidarity among Indigenous and local communities, bound together through shared histories, lived experiences, and collective aspirations.
These frameworks, she noted, offer powerful lessons for global health that honour Indigenous knowledge systems, respect local governance structures, and centre stories of connection, innovation, and community-led transformation.
Professor Angela Ballantyne from the University of Otago addressed the ethical challenges of data-driven health research, particularly concerning bias, inclusion, and community trust. She urged a move away from the high-speed, efficiency-focused model of global health and advocated for an “ethics of restraint” grounded in relationality and long-term trust-building.
Prof. Ballantyne pointed out that many underrepresented communities possess legitimate distrust in health research, shaped by histories of data misuse, deficit-based narratives, and exclusion from the benefits of research. Building legitimacy, she argued, requires engaging with communities at “the pace of trust.” Rather than collecting more data without reflection, she called for the development of community-centred governance structures, such as consent mechanisms and social licences, that promote ethical integrity and genuine inclusion.
Dame Catherine Healy, founding member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Sex Workers’ Collective (NZPC), delivered powerful reflections on the decriminalisation of sex work in New Zealand and the transformative role of meaningful allyship.
New Zealand’s model, which features a formal partnership between sex worker organisations and the government, public health sector and with migrant communities offers a compelling example of structural allyship in practice. “Good allyship means supporting sex worker-led initiatives, not rescue narratives. Let sex workers determine what works—don’t impose well-meaning solutions without their sign-off,” Healy asserted.
A dynamic Q&A session delved into how global health systems can unintentionally reinforce “othering” through research practices and misguided inclusion efforts.
Attendees noted that inclusion efforts can sometimes place undue burdens on marginalised communities in the name of representation. Speakers highlighted that while inclusion is essential, it should not be pursued as a one-size-fits-all goal. For example, in some cases, existing data sets may be robust enough to benefit multiple communities, making additional data collection unnecessary while in other contexts, specific inclusion is vital to uncover disparities and develop effective interventions.
The key, they stressed, is to adopt a fine-grained, ethical approach that distinguishes when differences matter and when shared experiences can serve as a foundation for solidarity.
Key Takeaway? From decriminalisation advocacy in Aotearoa New Zealand to trust-building practices in health research, and Indigenous philosophies that centre relationships and mutual responsibility, the second Global Health Solidarity Project webinar offered grounded, real-world examples of what meaningful solidarity can look like. It reaffirmed that global health equity cannot be achieved without listening to, resourcing, and standing alongside those whose voices have long been pushed to the margins.
As the Global Health Solidarity Project continues its 2025 series, this conversation served as a powerful reminder that transformative change begins when those in positions of power commit to dismantling systems of exclusion and supporting community-led solutions.
Webinar recording is available below!
https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/sv4mBAWE7Mvr2Wjw5qbxYdpKPUoNqmY_P3_AZ_E3omtbegSG4PeNMFoVAnlGivds.AjufMkV5C31s8MoY?startTime=1744097135000
Passcode: 9##NJDsw
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